


We've Already Begun

by raendown



Series: NarutoCouplesWeek2018 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, First Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:29:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Calm and poise go out the window as Neji grows nervous about their very first date.





	We've Already Begun

Despite the nervous energy that he could not seem to dispel, no sound came from the frantic pacing of his feet as Neji made his thirteenth circuit of the small room. Although he wasn’t usually given over to many nervous habits, today he found his feet could not keep still and already he had caught himself chewing on his thumbnail several times.

“Are you sure you brought the right blend of tea?” he demanded of the only other person in the room. The young woman looked back at him with a patient smile.

“Yes. Yunnan is her favorite; she told me so herself.”

“Good, good.”

Just as he absently raised his hand to his mouth once more, Hinata stood from the kotatsu and took his wrist in a gentle grip. Neji gave her a startled look as she firmly returned the appendage to his side with a slight shake of her head.

“Please don’t worry so much, Neji-nii-san,” she implored him. “TenTen would not have accepted your invitation for a date if she didn’t like you so you shouldn’t fret over impressing her like this.” Neji looked away, examining the tea tray laid out very precisely to make sure nothing was out of place. His eyes skimmed over the rest of the room, searching for any remaining specks of dust or any flowers that might be out of place in one of the vases.

“This must be perfect,” he said.

“But-!”

“She accepted my invitation, yes, which means that it is my duty to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Hinata twisted her hands together in a way that meant she had something else she wished to say yet lacked the courage to do so. Admittedly, he felt a tiny shadow of guilt for being so overbearing and causing his cousin to revert to her old ways like this, but he simply couldn’t help it. This date was the single most important event of his whole life. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the fact that this might be the beginning of the _rest_ of his life.

A thousand thoughts and worries ran through his mind all at once but he had no time to deal with any of them. Right at that moment they heard voices from down the hall as well as approaching footsteps and Neji suddenly forgot the mechanics of how to breathe properly. What were vocal chords for? Where was he supposed to put his tongue? How did swallowing work?

It was up to Hinata to go over and open the door when someone knocked, greeting the person on the other side before quietly graciously herself. TenTen stepped in to the room with a wave for her friend, then the door slid shut again behind her and all of her attention was on the young man waiting for her.

“Hey,” she mumbled.

“Good afternoon, TenTen.” Neji bowed a little then thought the better of it and shot back upright. Trying to ignore the strange look she was giving him, he stepped forward to offer her his arm. “May I escort you to the table?”

“I can see it, Neji. I think I can find my way across the room by myself.” She was smirking openly, amused by his excessive formality.

“Oh, of course.”

Mentally smacking himself in the face for being so awkward, he walked at her side instead and made sure that she was settled before sitting down himself on the opposite side of the kotatsu. Originally he had asked Hinata if she would stay and pour the tea for their date but his cousin had suggested that he keep this a private moment between the two of them. Now he wished he had paid more attention to how this was done properly; his hands were trembling almost imperceptibly as he reached for the teapot.

Gentle fingers caught his own before he could get there, stopping him in his tracks as warm skin held him captive in soft, yet incredibly strong hands. TenTen smiled at him with as much patience as Hinata had.

“You really went all out just for afternoon tea, didn’t you?” his date commented. “Neji, I don’t need you to be super formal or anything. We already know each other. I already know _you_ so you don’t have to try and impress me! I’m here because I already like you.”

“I only wanted this to go well,” he confessed.

“And it will. Just be yourself!” TenTen smiled as she released his hands, returned hers to her lap.

“Fine then.” Before he reached for the tea again, he asked, “Should I get rid of some of the flowers?”

TenTen looked around the room with interest. “It does look a bit like a garden in here, doesn’t it? No, don’t move any of them. You didn’t have to go through all this effort but…I’m really glad you did.”

Refusing to answer in case he spouted something emotional and embarrassing, Neji simply flushed a bit and nodded. This time when he reached for the tea his hands were not shaking. Whether that was because she had helped him to feel more confident or because he was suddenly motivated by the horrifying mental image of himself splashing hot tea in her lap, that he would never say.

Once she had a cup of hot tea between her hands and she had settled back in to her seat, TenTen wasted no time in striking up the same kind of friendly conversation which had originally led Neji to falling in love with her. She was everything he could have ever hoped for in a partner: kind, compassionate, strong-willed, smart, and so much more. TenTen was her own person, capable of being soft and feminine when it pleased her to be so as well as able to be tough as iron, unbending in her ideals and a terror on the battlefield. What he loved most, however, was that she did it all for herself. Not once had she ever changed herself for the approval of another person and he couldn’t help but admire her for it.

Conversational topics on their very first date swung wildly from the flowers he had chosen to decorate the room with to preferred methods of blade crafting and even to gossip over whether or not Sai and Ino would truly be tying the knot soon. Words flowed easily between them as Neji slowly remembered something incredibly important; before she had been the love of his life, she had first been his friend. In his panic to give her a perfect date he had forgotten that.

There truly was no need to make false impressions for a friend who already knew him so well.

Eventually the date would come to an end and Neji would invite TenTen out to dinner the next week. After dinner there would follow training sessions, walks in the park, and endless visits to each other’s homes. There would be a heartfelt and grandiose proposal followed by an even more grandiose wedding, there would be children and milestones and a lifetime of happiness.

For now, however, there was only TenTen’s hand as she very casually reached across the table to rest it atop of Neji’s. Drinking tea with his non-dominant hand felt strange but there was very little on this earth that could have persuaded him to move that appendage at the moment.

“I’m glad you asked me out,” TenTen said, a hint of color rising to her cheeks.

“As am I,” Neji replied. He was sure TenTen would hear what he was really trying to say without making him actually say it: he was glad to have her there with him, for now and for always.


End file.
